arnival is a street festival which brings communities together in celebration, largely on the back of voluntary participation -the archetypal big society showcase. In the UK it can encompass highly localized British traditions, such as Notting Hill's flagship African-Carribean event, to more recent hybrids accommodating both Brazilian and world music and a variety of street and performing arts (Goodwin, 2008).

Carnival's community spirit is the result of the cumulative efforts of many talented artists -musicians, and sound engineers. Carnival arts are now recognized by the Arts Council as a "combined art": one that, at its best, brings together many art forms and traditions in new innovative production and performance (Agnes, 2004).

Investment in combined arts is considered important for future social and economic returns.Carnival can engage the communitiesespecially young people and disadvantaged groupsthat more traditional art forms cannot reach. It can also create new commercial opportunities in digital and creative industries, among the priority sectors in the government's plan for growth. And the best carnivals are also major boosts for the local economy (Cole, 2006).

Carnival, according to the Chambers paper back thesaurus is a noun used to describe festival fiesta, gala, jamboree, fair holiday, jubilee celebration, merry making, and revelry. With these it is said to be a recreational activity and a part of tourism. Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations and the facilities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs. (Mathieson and Wail, 1982). The study of tourism is the study of people away from their usual habitat of the establishment which respond to the requirement of travelers and of the impacts that they have on the economic, physical and social wellbeing of their hosts. It involves the motivations and experiences of the tourists the expectations of and adjustments made by residents of reception areas, and the roles played by the numerous agencies and institutions which intercede between them. Tourism is a luxury, until recently; participation was restricted to the selected few who could afford both the time and money to travel. Increased leisure, higher incomes and greatly enhanced mobility have been combined to enable more people to partake of tourism. Improvements in transportation, the proliferation of accommodation and the growth of inclusive tours and others form of relatively cheap vacation travel, have further extended the opportunity to travel for pleasure. Today the majority of people in the developed world and increasing numbers in developing countries are tourists at some time in their lives. Tourism is no longer the prerogative of a few but is an accepted and accustomed, even expected, part of the lifestyle of a large and growing number of people. Tourism is of major economic and social significance because about 270 million tourists spend $92 billion (US) annually in places outside their own countries. This is one of the I.

E-mail : [email protected], [email protected] costume designers, dancers, street theatre performers largest items in the world's foreign trade. Will a world growth in visitor arrivals rate of approximately 6 percent per annum, tourism is also one of the fastest growing economic activities. It is the most important export industry and earner of foreign exchange in many countries. Looking at benefits and relevance of tourism, it could be in terms of its economic significance, where receipts from international tourism can provide a valuable source of earnings for both development as well as developing countries. Visitors spending generate income for both public and private sectors, besides effecting wages and employment opportunities. According to the world tourism organization (WTO) among the world's top 40 tourism earners in 1995 about 18 were developing countries including India. Regarding the number of visitors arrivals than the population, France with a population of 57 million received 70 million visitors in 1998. Similarly, Spain with a population of 37 million received 47 million visitors during the same year. (Bhatia, 2002). Tourism has also influenced expansion and modernization of infrastructure. It has been noticed that many regions in the world are not in a position to reap the benefit of tourism simply because of the lack of infrastructures. In fact, if we look at the countries and the regions within the countries, the ones having adequate infrastructure are the greatest beneficiaries. The world's top to tourist generating and recurring countries all have excellent infrastructures to support the insatiable quest of tourists' visiting the areas (Uwadiegwu, 2000).

Another importance of tourism is that, it creates employment. The world travel and tourism council had estimated that in the year 1999, travel and tourism was expected to generate almost 200 million jobs across the world economy, both direct and indirect. Looking toward, world travel and employment in travel and tourism is expected to grow at 2.6 percent per annum. The majority of the job will come in the form of direct service jobs in tourist related facilities and attraction at the destination and in tourist generating areas. Tourism also makes a tremendous contribution to the improvement of social and political understanding. Travel fosters a better rapport between people with different lifestyle. Personal international contacts have always been an important way of spreading ideas about other cultures. Carnivals are thus an important means of promoting cultural exchanges and international cooperation. The experiences gained through travel have a profound effect upon the life of the individual as well as upon society as a whole. Travel exercises a very healthy influence on international understanding and appreciation of other people's style of life. Tourism thus is a highly complex phenomenon. It is an important human activity of great significance in addition to its economic significance. As a mass phenomenon of an essentially social nature, tourism can no longer be viewed as a fringe activity, both in the use it makes of time and space and its relationship with the production of goods and services, tourism has become one of the pivotal concerns of nations and of the international community. (Bhatia 2002). It's an established fact today that tourism is a huge industry, the world's largest and arguably fastest growing industry. Every country has something to offer in tourism even the poorest nations can offer their heritage, traditional culture and national sites which today happens to be of great interest to tourists.

Nigeria is a vast country richly endowed with ecological and cultural resources. The country offers a with variety of tourist attractions such as extended and many rivers and ocean beaches ideal you summing and other water sports, unique and dowers wildlife, vast tracts of unspoiled nature from tropical forest magnificent waterfalls and climatic conditions in some parts particularly conducive for holidaying. Other attractions include traditional ways of life, local customs, rich and varied handicrafts and other colorful products depicting native arts and lifestyle and the authentic unsophisticated but friendly disposition of many of the Nigerian populace. However, many of these attraction are still largely untapped and are even at their raw state, although are enjoyed by few outsiders, very rich visitors in question of exoticism or adventurous people in search of new challenges and experiences.

Calabar Carnival festival in Cross River state, Nigeria, also tagged "Africa's Biggest Street Party", was created as part of the vision of making the Cross River State in Nigeria, the number one tourist destination for Nigerians and tourist all over the world. The carnival which begin on every 1st of December and last till 31st December has boosted the cultural mosaic of Nigeria people while entertaining the millions of spectators within and outside the State, and boosting industry for all stakeholders.

The Calabar Carnival has gone a long way since its inception in 2004, when the then governor of the State, Mr. Donald Duke had a vision of making the state the hub for tourism and hospitality in Nigerian and in Africa. The Carnival presents a perfect platform from brand visibility for consumer and market awareness. "According to Osima-Dokubo, the carnival aimed to include more aspects of local heritage and culture and at the same time strengthen the capacity of the locals to participate in an economically beneficial way". Recently, Cross River State and Calabar has become the pride of Nigeria or Africa as far as tourism, carnivals and hospitality are concerned.

Calabar Carnival, as it is called, is a unique display of African heritage, showcased through music, dance, drama and visual creativity, which is reflected in the design of floats, costumes and make-up. Since inception, this festival, which has become one of the biggest tourism and leisure attractions in West Africa, has grown tremendously in popularity and scope.

Over the past years, the Cross River State government has used this carnival to drive its tourism sector and provide exposure for its citizens, as well as develop its vast tourism sites and infrastructure such as the Obudu Ranch Resort, the Tinapa Business Resort, Marina Resort.

The festival commenced with a tree-lighting ceremony on November 30 at the Millennium Park, Calabar and will end with a thanksgiving ceremony on January 1 of the succeeding year. Usually, musical concerts that feature renowned national and international artistes are used to make the carnival very attractive. People like the late Lucky Dube, Joe, Alpha Blondy, Hugh Masekela, Oliver Mtukudzi, Akon, Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Chevelle Franklyn, Fat Joe, NeYo, Asa, D'banj had at one time or the other graced the event with their rhythms and lyrics. Calabar Carnival takes place on December 26 and 27 each year, The carnival features 5 major competing bands and many others which has continued to draw the patronage and visits of more and more tourists to the state at this point in time.

It is with regards to this incessant increase in the number of tourists visiting every year for this said event that this paper seeks to investigate if the carnival festival influences income generation of the region.

In recent times, Africa has been said to be the fastest growing tourism region with international arrivals reaching a 7.5 percent increase over that of the previous year with 360 million tourists recorded in 1998, 25 million (6.94%) visited Africa (Odunsanwo, 2009) . The World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2004) rating Nigeria as the most visited country in West Africa, projections had it that if benefits and activities of travels and tourism is utilized effectively, it could be a force for positive growth and economic especially for a developing state such as Cross River State (Ajake, 2008).

Tourism markets have the potential to enhance lives in a sustainable framework through its incessant wealth creation, choice, innovation and competition. The travel and tourism industry contains elements that enable it become a dynamic market force for sustainability in the future. It has the capacity to increase exports, bring in capital investment, boost economies (GDP) and create employment. The major underlying assumption of ecotourism is that visitors can provide the necessary economic incentives to achieve local conservation and development. In theory, ecotourism generates revenue that can be used to protect and conserve biodiversity and the natural resources that draw visitors to a particular site. It is also regarded as a mode of ecodevelopment, which represents practical and effective means of attaining social and economic improvement for all countries (Ceballos-lascurain, 1996).

Community peoples participation (which can mean a level of control, ownership or influence) in a tourism initiative appears to be closely linked to the derivation of livelihood and other benefits from the initiative to the same people (Tosun, 2005). According to Jafari (1996), "Tourism is sustainable when its development and operation include participation of local population, protection of the total environment, fair economic return for the industry and its host community, as well as a mutual respect and gratification to all involved parties".

A definition of ecotourism must account for the local population, and should minimize negative impacts on the host community, otherwise the local population may come to dislike the presence of tourism and this could undermine its long term prospects. Tourism is likely to have the greatest socio-cultural impacts on small, isolated communities (Pearce, 1994), which may themselves be one of the tourist attractions. As a result, any cultural changes in the community's way of life may reduce the overall marketability of tourism products and therefore provide future prospects. At the same time, ecotourism should produce direct economic benefit for the local community if it is to elicit their continued support, benefits that compliment rather than overwhelm traditional practices and sources of income (Wallace & Pierce 1996). However, such economic benefits and material wealth obtained by the local community may themselves lead to cultural changes in their way of life.

Wall (1997) notes that "ecotourism is an agent of change" and the wide spread misuse of the term "sustainable development", asserting that it should be considered as "tourism which can maintain its viability in an area for an indefinite period of time". Ecotourism can be viewed as part of a longer term strategy of sustainable development in which tourism is later phased out (Prosser, 1994). It is widely agreed that the host population receives economic benefits from ecotourism without which they will have little reason to view the intrusion of tourists positively and so have little incentive to protect the environment upon which tourism depends (Mowforth & Munt, 2009).

Great importance is attached to the need for local participation in ecotourism. Ecotourism is a type of tourism that maximizes the early and long term participation of local people in decision-making process that determines the kind and amount of tourism that will occur (Wallace & Pierce, 1996). The degree of control the local population has over tourism in their locality is generally perceived as being a significant element of sustainability (Mowforth & Munt, 2009). Communities located near major attraction sites, such as; national parks, reserves, archaeological and historic sites should have the opportunity to participate in tourism activities. These communities can provide hotels (accommodation), restaurants, shops, transportation and tour services; they can also be employed in management and operational activities (Okech, 2008).

Huge financial benefits obviously play an important part in ensuring smooth partnership between government, resort managers and local people and considering the fact that community people have a final say on how much and the extent tourism develops in their areas. This partnership should be based on a commitment to hire community people as managers or workers in protected areas and this should rest on improving the quality of lives through providing health care services, education and economic advancement and on empowering communities to manage their resources effectively. Hinch and Butler (2007) in their study on indigenous peoples' perception towards tourism development made strong recommendations for indigenous tourism above ecotourism. He defines indigenous tourism as any form of tourism that involves adequate participation by indigenous people in the tourism industry in either direct or indirect way (Hinch & Butler, 2007). Involving the community is a critically important and complex subject for successful community based ecotourism. An important principle is to seek to work with existing social and community structures, though these can create challenges as well as opportunities. The principle can also help to identify potential leaders and also assist in the achievement of broad and equitable benefit throughout the community (Denman, 2001).

Community people need to be empowered by increasing their understanding and where possible strengthen their knowledge of their legal rights and responsibilities over resources in their territories. It is also important to remember and note that ecotourism is a business, and as such, community-led initiatives in private enterprise and investment should be encouraged within a structure that enables community people to benefit and have decision-making power over all levels of tourism activities in their area.

Studies have examined the involvement and participation of Indigenous people in the tourism development process like in (Tosun, 2000;Tosun, 2006;Li, 2005;Li, 2004;Timothy, 1999). The process of tourism development as pointed out in the works of Doxey (1976); Butler (1976); Butler (1980); Keller (1984) as cited in Simmons (1994) and Tosun (2000), appears to suggest that there is a high degree of dependence on residents for their acceptance of the industry before it starts in a particular destination. This is to say, initial adequate involvement of local people is fundamental to enable the initial stage of tourism development (Simmons, 1994;Tosun, 2000), which Butler (1980) called the exploration stage.

Implicitly, the above argument about the relationship between tourism development and indigenes participation indicates that community involvement is, indeed, crucial in order to avoid more likely uncertainties and misunderstandings about tourism development in the area (Simmons, 1994). While local peoples participation in the tourism development process is highly desirable as an element of development, it is important to note that active involvement and participation of the local people in tourism especially at the exploration stage is crucial because at this initial stage of tourism development there is normally little or no tourism infrastructure in the area and therefore local people, after accepting the idea of introduction of tourism in their area, usually start, own and operate small scale guest-houses, low-class hotels or souvenir shops, and supply the workforce for the industry especially in many developing countries (Tosun, 2000). More importantly, providing local people with the opportunities to own and operate tourism facilities is thought to increase their tolerance to tourist activities in the area and eventually creates a sense of ownership, a feeling of responsibility and practical involvement in tourism (Simpson, 2008).

Andres Barona points to the frequent justification for ecotourism as a means to benefit community people without detrimental social or environmental consequences and increase income for tribal communities while also lowering pressure on the natural resources. Also cited by Jorge Nahual of the coordination of the Mapuche organizations, tourism can increase community and personal income and bring empowerment and self-confidence to traditionally subjugated people. The experience in Latin America has led to greater respect for the local people on the part of national and local authorities and their active

Volume XII Issue X Version I

incorporation in development planning for tourism as respected players (Timothy, 2000).

The literature seems to acknowledge the fact that indigenous peoples' participation is vital in the tourism development process. However, Tosun (2000) while exploring limits to local people's participation in the tourism development process in developing countries, further observes that "opportunities for local people to participate may vary over time with the type and scale of tourism developed, thresholds of entry, and the market served". His study views the relationship between local community participation and tourism development process in the context of Butler's tourist area cycle of evolution model. He also notes that, such variations are due to the reality that as the destination becomes more popular and attractive after considerable development (or as a result of growing commercialized tourism).

More investors, especially large capital owners, are attracted to the destination making competition stiffer than before. In this regard, local people are likely to lose control over tourism development since they often have limited financial resources (Zhao & Ritchie, 2007) and therefore it gradually becomes more difficult for them to open large scale businesses (Tosun, 2000). To avoid this situation, Tosun (2000) suggests that there is a deliberate need to empower local people at the initial stage of tourism development to enable them to keep control over tourism development in their area. One way to achieve this is through removing barriers that hinder local communities' effective participation in markets (Zhao & Ritchie, 2007). Guan (2008) in the study on "Tourism, cultural survival and host ethnic participation", sought to evaluate the impact of tourism on host cultures, he discovered that development of tourism on a large scale should include beneficial cross-cultural exchange and result in inter-ethnic understanding and appreciation. He also noted that in tourist's destinations there is bound to be conflict in value between the hosts living in closed societies with traditional lifestyles and the quests from modernized regions with foreign behaviours and new ideas. These conflicts lead to host cultural drift and tourist misunderstanding. The ultimate answer to this conflict is host participation, which means making the local people take part in tourist organization, administration, guiding and services; and decide the amount and quality of cultural content as well as the communication methods in tourist activities.

He also noted that tourism without host participation can be a major set-back to the host ethnic culture while noting that one major negative impact of tourism on host culture is that members of the host communities especially the youths susceptible to the apparent material superiority of the outsiders, may copy the latter's behaviours and consumption patterns, feeling ashamed of their own social customs and life styles, and consequently accepting alien values and attitudes without choice. In conclusion, he noticed that host participation in tourism plays a decisive role in meeting tourist expectations, which attracts visitors to particular destinations with special cultural characteristics, and helps the visitors' understanding of the host culture; as a result, successful tourism with local participation could have a particular ethnic flavour in keeping with traditional host cultural values and customs. To satisfy the tourists' cultural desire, some cultural forms which may have been forgotten can be revived, there-by rejuvenating the cultural heritage of the native people. The result of this study shows that it is only when local people have a good knowledge of their culture that they can possess self-confidence and selfrespect and successfully helps visitors to understand and accept the meaning of their culture.

Just like the Rio de Janeiro carnival, Brazils annual carnival festival attracts visitors from all over they would to Rio de Janeiro. The famous celebration, held before the start of lent, include dance (notably samba competitions), parade, song and music the Calabar carnival now known as carnival Calabar, is an annual state event that look forward to take place, each year on the 26 th of December as a high point of the services of activities organized by the state government to celebrate both the end of the year and Christmas season. It has always been a showcase of talents, the performing arts and culture and on exciting rallying point not only for residents but also for indigence living away from home. Participation has consistently grown from a modest few thousand to the hundreds of thousands from within and outside the state. Participants and dancers are organized into bands that are required to display their skills, talents, costumes, masquerades and dances routines during the parade that promenades along a 12km route through the city of Calabar. The five registered bands are:

i. The bayside band; which goes with the blue colour.

ii. The freedom band; which goes with yellow iii. Passion four; with green iv. Master blaster in orange v. Seagulls in Red.

The carnival Calabar of 2006 also comprised of a cultural carnival which is a unique feature and a further enrichment of the festival. This is the introduction of the cultural carnival group into the carnival band. The Governor's vision was to ensure that cultural values and contents form a major component of the experience. Thus a band of cultural dance troupes' drama from the 18 local government of the Cross River State, cultural group from other states of the federation as well as nonindigenous communities living in Cross River State participated for a total experience. In all these, the cultural content of the carnival has been heightened to play up trado-originality and above all the cultural African content (Cross River state Tourism Bureau, 2010).

Data collected for this study was based on the study objective, with information on people's involvement in tourism related and non-tourism related activities during the Cross River state Christmas festival celebration which span from 30 th November through 1 st of January the following year (2011) in the study area.

Primary and secondary sources of data collection were used to obtain data for this research. The primary sources involved the use of questionnaire, interviews and the researcher's direct field observations. The secondary sources involved information from textbooks, journals, Cross River State Tourism Bureau.

The population of the study is made up of the house-hold heads in the study area. Information was also gathered from women and youths who were involved in tourism and non-tourism related activities. They are mainly residents who are bread-winners of their families and are involved in economic activities within the study area which comprises of parts of Calabar south and Calabar municipality which makes up what is known as Calabar metropolis.

All house-hold heads in the area were purposely adopted for this study questionnaire survey process because this category of people makes up the population involved in economic activities in the area, while the choice to use all the house-hold heads in the area was based on the consideration of the limitation of the number of house-holds present in the area. This is sometimes referred to as judge mental sampling because the selection of units to be included in the sample is on the basis of the judgment of the researcher because most of the information required was elicited through questionnaire survey and interviews with key informants. The sample of this study is made up of two thousand and five hundred (250) respondents randomly selected from ten streets in Calabar metropolis (see table 1). Source : Researchers field survey, (2011).

The method of data collection was through questionnaire administration, interviews and participatory research method (PRM). The people were given the questionnaire to respond to and the researcher collected the questionnaire as soon as the responses were completed to avoid indoctrination by other persons. The interviews were organised and their responses were recorded and used as a veritable tool to provide answers to the questions on their contribution and benefits from tourism related and non-tourism related activities during the period under investigation. During the field work, ten field assistants (mainly local people who are secondary school leavers) were trained and employed for the questionnaire survey session (one for each street). Data collected were analysed and presented using descriptive and quantitative techniques. The descriptive technique includes the use of tables, graphs, charts, mean, standard deviation and simple percentages.

The study investigated the influence of tourism activities during the Christmas festival celebration on economy of residents of the study area. Table 2 shows details of the occupational distribution of the respondents.

Volume XII Issue X Version I The findings in table 2 shows that most residents (712 persons representing 29%) of this study area are involved in business (buying and selling) activities also taking into consideration that it was also observed that some of this persons are civil servants and since the government normally declares public holiday for civil servants in the state for the whole of December, some of them get involved in trading activities which is normally encouraged with the opening of the Christmas village always located at the state cultural centre. It was also observed that apart from traders, 465 persons out of the total population of study 1, clearly shows the percentage distribution of occupational pattern in the study area. This shows that the people are mainly traders (29%), sit-home civil servants (19%), transporters (14%), security staffs (10%), hotel staffs (8%), Artisans (7%) while those involved in the banking and food/ beverages industry are (6%) respectively. It is an established fact that tourism has a trickle-down effect on it host in terms of the benefits accruing from the presence of tourists visiting such destination (Hinch and Butler, 2007;Tosun, 2006;Okech, 2004). Since the main objective of this study is to determine the influence of not just tourism but the Christmas festival on the economy of the of the study area, the researcher for the purpose of this study classified economic activities in the area into tourism related and other activities, with tourism activities having to comprise those economic activities that made the people have direct and at the spot benefit from their interaction with the tourists such as; trading, tour-guiding, transportation, hotel jobs, artisans and food & beverages dealers, while others (non-tourism related activities as those economic activities that had to do with indirect contacts and benefits through salaries which are fixed irrespective of the period and this included activities such as; those involved in civil service, banking and security jobs. In a bid to fully understand and determine the financial influence of tourism activities through this various activities on the people, table 3, therefore shows the average income of the people. The findings on the economic influence of tourism during the Christmas festival celebration in the study area shows that during this time, most people in this area get themselves involved in one tourism related economic activity or the other and it is discovered that they exists great increase in income generation during this time by individuals involved in such businesses all year round with information on table 3, showing that tourism related activities contributed more income to individual resident in the area than non-tourism related activities in the area. Figure 2, also shows a clear picture of the total income generated pattern of the people in the study area.

Volume XII Issue X Version I It discovered that in all the streets under investigation, people that were involved in tourism related activities were more than those engaged in other activities and this has a corresponding influence on the average income of the people of the area. This analysis indicates that tourism during the annual Christmas festival celebrations a positive influence on the economic life of the residents of Calabar metropolis who are host to the Christmas festival event in the state.

The result from the questionnaire survey indicated that the Christmas festival has positively influenced the economic activities within the period under investigation. The people have continued to appreciate that the increase in the number of tourists visiting the area at this time means a direct increase in the benefits from the tourism activity in the area. It was therefore acknowledged that the people's level of participation in touristic activities during this time has continued to increase year after year and their level of hospitality have also improved with their appreciation of the tourism event owing to the benefits accruing with it.

From the interview sessions held during the field work exercise, the following summations were made; i. Inadequate funding was seen as one of the biggest obstacle of development of the tourism industry in the area. External funding for tourism is crucial in local communities with local government and private sources such as banks also often have limited resources to invest in tourism. The need for community infrastructure, provision of money/funds for creation of tourist attractions and tourism promotion were observed to be very important ii. The respondents also emphasized on lack of good tourism planning and incorporation of local people in tourism planning as an important challenge of the tourism industry. iii. The respondents also emphasized lack of coordination between community residents and government in terms of tourism development in the area as one of the challenge in the area. iv. On the overall, lack of good planning, tourism knowledge funding, advertisements, marketing and sensitization were among major reasons tourism challenges affect the economy of individual and the state as a whole. v. The respondents also complained on the issue of seasonality of tourism events in the state, stating that this have served as an impediment to the people participating immensely in tourism activities as a full time occupation.

In conclusion, since local communities often support tourism events which they believed would contribute to their livelihood. It is expected that such projects should in-corporate them especially in planning 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 Tourism related activities(N)

An Assessment of the Influence of Calabar Carnival on the Economy of the Residents of Calaba and implementation. The study showed that most of the respondents were willingly ready to support more tourism events in the area. It was discovered that the increase in tourists' visitation especially for the Christmas festival event benefited most people through provision of employment and business opportunities it offered. All these have contributed to the economy of the residents of Calabar Metropolis.

Based on the above, the study recommended that tourism development should integrate all the stakeholders' especially local people resident in such tourism destination whose presence and activities also determine the level of hospitality of such a region. This is intended to increase more tourists' visits and economic benefits associated with tourism and tourism initiatives need to be managed carefully if they are to yield the desired benefits without undermining the local economy and the environment, social traditions and cultural resources.